Houston Marathon
Encyclopedia
The Houston Marathon is an annual marathon
Marathon
The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...

 held every January in Houston, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. With thousands of runners and spectators, it is the largest single day sporting event in the city. It is run concurrently with a half marathon
Half marathon
A half marathon is a road running event of . It is half the distance of a marathon and usually run on roads. Participation in half marathons has grown steadily recently. One of the main reasons for this is that it is a challenging distance, but does not require the same level of training that a...

 and a 5 km
5000 metres
The 5000 metres is a popular running distance also known as 5 km or 5K in American English. It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics. "5000 metres" refers to racing on a track and "5K" usually refers to a roadrace or cross country event...

 race. The 2007 race included the first-ever satellite running of the event, run simultaneously in Fallujah
Fallujah
Fallujah is a city in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, located roughly west of Baghdad on the Euphrates. Fallujah dates from Babylonian times and was host to important Jewish academies for many centuries....

, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

.

The first marathon, run on December 30, 1972, featured 113 runners and a crowd of approximately 200 people. Today, as many as 15,000 take part in front of a far larger crowd of 200,000. The 1979 edition of the competition hosted the national marathon championship race for men and women. Houston was selected for the women's Olympic Trials in 1992 and held the USATF women's marathon championship in 1998. The half marathon course hosted the USATF Men's Half Marathon Championship from 2005 to 2008, and also hosted the women's event in 2007 and 2008.

Along with the Dallas White Rock Marathon
Dallas White Rock Marathon
The Dallas White Rock Marathon is a marathon that has taken place in December in Dallas, Texas since 1971. An official time from the Dallas White Rock Marathon can be used to qualify for the Boston Marathon. The course is both hilly and flat involving running through downtown Dallas as well as the...

 and the Austin Marathon
Austin Marathon
The Austin Marathon is an annual marathon held in Austin, Texas. Freescale Semiconductor, spun off from Motorola's semiconductor products sector in 2006, founded the marathon in 1991 and served as title sponsor for fifteen years. The marathon was sponsored by AT&T in 2007 and 2008, but ran with no...

, the Houston Marathon forms the middle leg of the Marathons of Texas, a series of winter marathons held approximately one month apart from each other from December through February in Texas.

George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

 ran in the Houston Marathon at age 46 in 1993, finishing with the time of 3 hours, 44 minutes, 52 seconds.

Sponsors and charities

The current corporate sponsor of the marathon is Chevron Corporation
Chevron Corporation
Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States and active in more than 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining,...

. Aramco
Saudi Aramco
Saudi Aramco , officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia.Saudi Aramco is the world's largest and most valuable privately-held company, with estimates of its value in 2011 to be $7 trillion USD.Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves,...

 sponsors the half marathon and El Paso Corporation sponsors the concurrent 5K run.

The event supports many charities, including CanCare, Texas Children's Hospital, and Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Course details

The fast and flat course starts in the downtown area at Minute Maid Park
Minute Maid Park
Minute Maid Park is a ballpark in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States that opened in 2000 to house the Major League Baseball Houston Astros....

 and takes runners past scenic Houston areas and communities—including Houston Heights and Neartown, past Hermann Park
Hermann Park
Hermann Park is one of Houston's most-visited public parks. Situated between Fannin Street and Cambridge Street, it is within walking distance from the Texas Medical Center, Rice University, and the Museum District, and within a few miles of the Third Ward, the historic Astrodome and Reliant Stadium...

 and Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

, over to Uptown
Uptown Houston
The Uptown District of Houston is located 6.2 miles west of downtown and is centered along Post Oak Boulevard, Westheimer Road , and the Galleria...

, and then through Memorial Park and Allen Parkway, finishing at the George R. Brown Convention Center
George R. Brown Convention Center
The George R. Brown Convention Center opened on September 26, 1987 on the east side of Downtown Houston, Texas, United States.The center was named for the prominent Houstonian George R. Brown, an entrepreneur, civic leader and philanthropist. Brown’s Texas Eastern Corporation donated six of the 11...

 downtown. The course is USATF certified and is popular with runners seeking to qualify for the Boston Marathon
Boston Marathon
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest...

. The race time limit is 6 hours and a limit of 22,000 entries is enforced, divided evenly between the full and half marathons.

Open results

Key:
Edition Year Men's winner Time (h
Hour
The hour is a unit of measurement of time. In modern usage, an hour comprises 60 minutes, or 3,600 seconds...

:m
Minute
A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units...

:s
Second
The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock....

)
Women's winner Time (h
Hour
The hour is a unit of measurement of time. In modern usage, an hour comprises 60 minutes, or 3,600 seconds...

:m
Minute
A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units...

:s
Second
The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock....

)
39th January 30, 2011 2:07:04 2:26:33
38th January 18, 2010 2:07:37 2:23:53
37th January 18, 2009 2:07:52 2:24:15
36th January 13, 2008 2:12:32 2:24:40
35th January 14, 2007 2:11:39 2:26:52
34th January 15, 2006 2:12:02 2:32:25
33rd January 16, 2005 2:14:50 2:32:27
32nd January 18, 2004 2:18:51 2:28:36
31st January 19, 2003 2:24:43 2:42:37
30th January 20, 2002 2:28:43 2:50:49
29th January 14 2001 2:29:27 2:43:40
28th January 16, 2000 2:11:28 2:32:25
27th January 17, 1999 2:14:56 2:33:23
26th January 18, 1998 2:11:23 2:33:37
25th January 12, 1997 2:19:21 2:36:13
24th January 21, 1996 2:10:34 2:31:59
23rd January 15, 1995 2:11:52 2:29:57
22nd January 16, 1994 2:13:34 2:34:47
21st January 24, 1993 2:13:21 2:29:05
20th January 26, 1992 2:13:12 2:30:12
19th January 20, 1991 2:12:28 2:30:55
18th January 14, 1990 2:11:13 2:32:55
17th January 15, 1989 2:10:04 2:30:16
16th January 17, 1988 2:11:44 2:34:52
15th January 18, 1987 2:11:51 2:32:37
14th January 19, 1986 2:11:31 2:31:33
13th January 6, 1985 2:11:14 2:28:36
12th January 15, 1984 2:11:54 2:27:51
11th January 16, 1983 2:12:17 2:33:27
10th January 24, 1982 2:11:12 2:40:56
9th January 10, 1981 2:12:20 2:35:28
8th January 19, 1980 2:13:35 2:44:45
7th January 20, 1979 2:15:28 2:46:17
6th January 21, 1978 2:17:11 3:01:54
5th January 22, 1977 2:27:46 3:00:34
4th January 17, 1976 2:17:46 3:37:04
3rd January 18, 1975 2:35:00 3:31:24
2nd December 29, 1973 2:37:47 4:29:07
1st December 30, 1972 2:32:33 5:11:55

  • = Time was a record mark for the state of Texas.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK